YuGiOh! 5D's Bloodstained
by AbsoluteZeroWriter
Summary: Lily has her first duel within the story. Will she win? And what has become of her future one month after the funeral? Read in the latest chapter of Bloodstained! **CHapter Three: Expected Arrival Time: April**
1. Pilot

Chapter One – Inheritance

The blood from the fresh corpses stained the white marble. The red fluid leaked through the skulls, filling the gaps in between tiles. The young lady walked in to talk to her parents, only to find them newly dead bodies, slain and left on the ground like bad cattle. The girl stared at the bodies lain out in front of her, falling on her knees. Tears began to form in her blue eyes and trickled down her cheeks like small streams from a pond. A ear-piercing scream filled the entire estate, attracting footsteps that echoed from the halls.

A young man, no more than a year older than the woman, walked into the room and saw the horrific scene that laid out before him. He heard the rather loud sobbing of the young lady that was in front of him. It dawned onto him that she was now an orphan for reasons currently unknown. He set one of his hands on her shoulder, and she looked up and saw the young man. Her eyes were now reddened from the death of her parents. She couldn't help but feel hopelessness dawn on her, as she was – to a certain extent – alone.

THE FUNERAL WAS very active. The two coffins were side by side, both shiny black coffins with golden edges. Drones of people gathered at the cathedral in which the service was being held. At the front of the church, people hobbled out of cards and limped towards the table that had the guest book in it. Others were ushered to their seats by various people that were hired to assist the young lady with the funeral. A soft hum of an organ weaved in and out of ears as the service barely started. The young lady and the man that had tried to console her at the scene of the death was sitting in the front row. A black veil covered her watery eyes.

Within moments, the funeral started. The organ that was initially nothing but a soft whisper in peoples' ears flooded the room with a torrent of notes and chords that only set the mood darkly. The air was stale and the people sat down as the priest entered the room. Soon, everyone stood up again, muttering a prayer under their breaths in unison with the priest. The man was dressed in white, silk robes. It extended down and covered the feet, which were comfortably sitting in sandals. He read from a golden bible that shined in the natural light that was let through the stained glass windows. After the scriptures, cousins, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters and friends to the deceased couple stepped up to the altar to give their words of kindness. And finally, rows of people saw the bodies for the last time. As the young woman saw her mother, she let down a stream of tears.

Within seconds, she saw the black-and-white memories of her childhood with her mother. She slowly walked to her father's casket, slowly kneeling on the ground as she could barely look at his visage. The memories taunted her like bullies making fun of her within a mental playground. Her purple hair covered her face well, as the people attending the service did not recognize the anguish that flowed from her eyes until the young man that had consoled her at the horrific scene that led to this moment arrived at her side. The organ played again as she wept back to her seat. More people said more words, and soon, everyone except the young lady and her overseer were gone.

A WEEK AFTER the funeral, the family attended the reading of the will. The young lady took her seat next to the man that had been with her through the entire incident. They both sat next to her aunt, whom seemed eager for the will. One of the lawyer's for the young lady's parents walked into the room. The expressionless face glanced at the faces of the family as he began to speak.

"I'm glad that you were all able to make it for the reading of the will. Mr. Takeda left some of his valuables to you, and we're here to find out who gets what. Also, to introduce myself formally to all of you, my name is Mr. Nihiro."

The family all stared at the man, wondering what exactly they were left by their deceased relative. It angered the daughter, having known her family to be rather materialistic and saw this as an opportunity to get her parents' hard-earned treasures.

"Here we go," began Mr. Nihiro, reading from a piece of battered paper whose words were vaguely due to the ink that had small, scribbled words on it. " 'To my lovely family, I hope that by the time this is read, you've all would have your children and they in turn would have their own children. However, it is time that my wife and I rode the chariot that will carry us to our nirvana. Consequently, my we hope to actually pass on these gifts to you, our loving family. To my sister Sophia, I leave $100,000 to start that small business you've always told me about. I really hope that the cookies you bake for the family will make it within the houses of millions of families. To my sister Amelia, I leave you any one of my cars, except my motorcycle, that you would like. I understand that you lack the current funds to get a car of your own, and I hope that you'll start your own collection by driving in style."

Both sisters smiled with joy, sickening the daughter. Mr. Nihiro cleared his throat and continued reading.

" 'To my one-and-only brother-in-law Armando, a television set of your choice from my house. I know how much you enjoy watching television, especially sports games. I hope that one of my high-end televisions will be yours to share and appreciate. I'm also planning on giving $10,000,000 to several charities that I will leave up to you, my family, to decide where they go. And if you do not find places for the money to go within a month of my death, I will have the money go to my daughter. Speaking of which, my beautiful Daughter, Lily, who I hope to at least see graduate and go off to college, I leave you some important gifts that I would like to have you discuss with Mr. Nihiro privately. Nonetheless, I really hope that your lives will be a blessed one, and if I haven't seen you get sent off from this world, I can't wait to see you in the next.'"

All of the family members that did not receive anything left miserably. However, Lily – the daughter – was nervous and tear stricken. She didn't know what her father wanted to give her, and didn't appreciate how the only reason people came was to see what they received. Mr. Nihiro walked over to Lily with a smile.

"Are you ready, Ms. Takeda?" asked Mr. Nihiro with a soft and assuring tone. She looked up at him and nodded. Before they left, the laywer looked at the young man that had been with Lily through the entire ordeal and said, "I need you to come too. You're also going to be happy."

THEY ALL SAT in Mr. Nihiro's office, which was nothing spectacular. It was a rather small office, with only three seats including his. The cherry-wood desk that was in the middle of the room had only three boxes, two of them small and different colors and the last one a shoebox. Lily and the young man took a seat opposite of the lawyer. Mr. Nihiro cleared his throat, the sound echoing off of the various portraits that were on the walls, and read the letter.

" 'To my darling Lily and her caretaker Kokuen, I hope you both are doing well. If this makes it to you before I get to see both of you walk the stage and go off to college, then I'd like to apologize as you'll find that it's probably my carelessness that has caused you grief. Nonetheless, there is still some business to take care of before you two move on. I'd like to let you know, Lily and Kokuen, that you both have $200,000 college funds. So wherever you get accepted to, you will be alright. Furthermore, you will be staying in the house for your senior year of high school as you'll be attending a local private school. All of the housing servants have been paid for around a year, and after that, it's up to you. Secondly, Lily, you have a $2,000,000 account to start you off on your life when you turn the age of 21. My hope is that you'll take over the family company, but you don't have to. And finally, you both deserve a bit of fun in your lives. I'm leaving you two my decks. For you, Kokuen, your strength and determination will allow you to wield the purple box properly. And for you, Lily, your decisiveness and ingenuity will allow you to succeed with the white box. Don't lose these, as I've had my soul in these cards. Furthermore, special duel disks will open these boxes. You'll see them in the garage when you make it to the house. I hope you two blossom into wonderful people, and I hope to duel both of you one day where we don't have to worry about death. My best wishes with you, your father.'"

LILY AND KOKUEN both went home that evening. Before looking in the garage Lily wanted to talk to Kokuen now that the funeral and reading of the will was over. Both of them sat on the stools that were in the kitchen island. Kokuen's amber eyes looked into Lily's blue eyes. He sat at attention, listening to the girl he had been taking care of for the past eight years of his life.

"I just wanted to know that you're like a brother to me, Kokuen. But there is something very important that I need you to do for me," said Lily, looking down towards the floor, her voice becoming close to inaudible.

"Yeah, you know I'll do anything for you, Lily," responded Kokuen reassuringly. He tried to get Lily to look at him once again, but she continued looking at the ground.

"I want to consider having your own life. I'm seventeen, Kokuen, and we're both about to go to college. I know you've been living with us since I was nine, but I still want you to have your own life. I don't want ot hold you back, Kokuen," she said, her voice trembling. He lifted her head and their eyes met again. Although she expected her sentinel to be frowning in disapproval, he was smiling.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think you understand, Lily. My life's purpose is to serve you. You're like a sister to me, and I want to protect you. I honestly don't know what would happen if you and I… were separated. Your father treated me as his own son and gave me another chance at life. I'm grateful for that, and I can't let him down. Your mother was like my mother, giving me the emotional support that I needed. I don't know what happened to them, but your life is precious to me. I feel that it's my obligation to protect it, Lily. So don't even bother trying to get me away," responded Kokuen mildly. Lily began to cry again, however, instead of a frown on her face, she was smiling.

After their conversation, both of them made it to the garage and began searching for the items that would open the boxes they inherited from Lily's father. They began looking for tools to open the boxes, but none would cut or saw open the box. Then, they began banging and setting the boxes next to any random device. Lily tried fingerprinting systems, lights and other random things but none of the objects within the garage would respond nonetheless open the boxes.

After around twenty minutes of searching, the duo had sat down on random items within the garage. They began to look around the room for any signs of anything that would open the boxes they received.

"There has to be some clue as to what would open these things," said Kokuen, tossing his box in the air.

"Yeah, I guess we should probably think about what to look for. Then we can maybe find it," suggested Lily, twirling strands of her hair around her finger. Silence filled the garage again as they both thought of what would trigger the opening of the boxes.

"I GOT IT!" yelled Kokuen. Lily looked up, her face expressing the blatant confusion as she saw Kokuen climb a ladder and pull down a metal briefcase. As soon as he was on the ground, he opened the briefcase and took out two duel disks. They both corresponded with the colors of the boxes that Lily and Kokuen received – white and purple. Kokuen took out the purple box and inserted it into the deck slot of the duel disk. The metal box began to glow a bright purple. Lily and Kokuen stood there, baffled at the sight they got a chance to behold. The top of the box folded back and revealed a full deck and extra deck.

"Wow… the duel disks must recognize the boxes. He must have locked them so that no one could gain access to the cards inside. He did express that these decks were precious," explained Kokuen. He passed Lily the white duel disk, and she repeated the same thing. Soon, the say a white beacon of light emerge from the duel disk and seconds later, she had access to the cards within the box. She scanned through the deck and smiled. She thought to herself, _Why would he hide access to the cards? I mean, what's so special about them, they're just cards…_

"Hey, I have an idea!" exclaimed Lily, standing up and placing the appropriate cards within their duel disk slots. She walked over to a rather empty spot of the garage. Kokuen watched her move slowly towards the garage door, wondering what she was planning.

"What are you thinking, Lily?" he asked, confused as to what she was planning.

"Since we have these new decks, maybe we should take them out for a spin and duel with them," suggested Lily, activating the duel disk. Kokuen smiled and took a space that was an appropriate distance away from Lily. He activated his duel disk after placing the main deck and extra deck in their respective slots. The machines began to hum softly and randomize the cards within the main deck. Afterwards, both Lily and Kokuen drew five cards.

"DUEL!" they both yelled, starting the first of what would be many duels.


	2. Eperdu

Chapter Two – éperdu

Both duelists walked up to the stage and shuffled their decks. The various people that sat down in the chairs were glued to the front of the room in excitement. The opponents slowly walked towards opposite corners of the stage, inserting their decks into the mechanical devices they referred to as Duel Disks. On the left side of the stage was Lily, her purple hair down all around her face leaving a purple bang in the front. And on the right side of the stage was another duelist with forest-green hair. His eyes were like black beetles curled up in a square-shaped and transfixed on Lily. Both players then proceeded to draw five cards and looked at their hands, momentarily studying the cards they drew before looking at one another. On the side, there was a student referee, watching the movements of the players closely and declared that the player on the right drew his hand first, thus, earning the right to go first. Finally, both duelists yelled "DUEL!" before the boy with the black beetles lodged in his eyes went first.

Lily: 4000

Player: 4000

"I'll make the first move," began the other player, drawing his sixth card. He stood there, looking at the various cards in his hand trying to come up with the best move that would be an opener. Lily stared at him, thinking to herself, _This is an interesting start. His deck must be themed, especially since he's taking a while to think of what card he wants to play. He obviously doesn't want to give his deck away, so he decided to think carefully about what card to play. More than likely, it's going to be a splashable card_.

"I'll summon Sangan in attack position (ATK: 1000)! Next, I'll throw down one card and end my turn!" played the boy, confirming Lily's suspicions. First, a furry critter appeared on the field, jumping into play. It's three eyes, all initially closed, opened up along with its mouth and the fangs hidden within it. Finally, the turn ended with the appearance of the back of a standard Duel Monsters card. Lily, although concerned about the face-down card, did not falter and simply drew her sixth card without any fancy declaration or notification.

"I'll begin with a monster known as Senju of the Thousand Hands in attack position (ATK: 1400). This monster allows me to add a Ritual Monster card from my deck to my hand," began Lily, placing the card in the first card gracefully. After the card's declaration of summoning was made, sprinkles of light erupted from both sides of the duel disk. In front of Lily, a golden statue of a goddess with several weapons appeared. Her eyes were closed and the hands were gleaming with light.

"Without further ado, I'll add Relinquished to my hand," continued Lily. Her duel disk ejected a face-down card near the bottom of the deck. Lily picked it up, showing and confirming with her opponent that the card was indeed 'Relinquished'. Her blue eyes laid sight upon the furry critter that was in front of her. Her mouth curled into a smile as she felt herself raising her arm and pointing at the critter she looked down upon.

"I declare the attack of my Senju against your Sangan!" The statue raised its left arm that held a sphere. It threw the object at the critter, striking it in the dead center. A thin stream of green blood squirted in the air, accompanied by a loud screech that irritated the ears of everyone. Within moments, the critter disappeared, and a small beeping noise came from the other player's side of the field.

Player: 3600

"I activate the effect of Sangan," began the other player, smiling. "Whenever my critter is sent to the graveyard, I can add a monster with 1500 attack points or less to my hand. So I'm adding Dark Resonator to my hand!"

Just like Lily's duel disk, her opponent's ejected out the card he wanted to add to his hand. He showed Lily the 'Dark Resonator' card for confirmation and officially added to his hand.

"I'll end my turn from here," ended Lily, smiling and confident that she wouldn't have to worry about much. Her opponent drew his card silently, looking at his hand. Lily then thought to herself, _He's going to try and Synchro Summon. However, I don't know exactly how he's going to do it. Let's say he does summon Dark Resonator, what's stopping me at that point? His monster only has 1300 attack points, whereas mine has 1400, making it less advantageous for him. Secondly, he'd have to already have a non-Tuner monster on the field, which he doesn't since I destroyed his Sangan. However…he does have that FACE-DOWN CARD! He must be planning on using that to bring out a non-Tuner monster, then use his Tuner monster to bring out some Synchro Monster. I hope this is correct…_

"I'll start off by activating my trap card, Limit Reverse! I can special summon a monster with 1000 attack or less, and only one monster in my grave qualifies. Come on out, Sangan," played Lily's opponent. The critter returned to the field, scratched and bandaged. Lily grimaced as she understood the implications of the move her opponent was about to make – Synchro Summoning a Level 6 monster.

"Now, I'll summon the Tuner monster known as Dark Resonator! (ATK: 1300) Without further ado, I'll tune my Level 3 Sangan to my level 3 Dark Resonator," continued the other player. First, a fiend with a pointed cap, a cape and a tuning fork in hand appeared, grinning. Then with a strike of the fork, Sangan became translucent. The fiend floated in the air, eventually becoming three green rings. Sangan jumped into those rings, with three 3 glowing spheres appearing inside of its body. The critter fully disappeared and a bright, bluish-white light appeared from the rings. The audience and Lily then was blinded by the light and could only see the silhouette of a monster.

"With my Sangan and Dark Resonator, I Synchro Summon the force known as Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Boundary! (ATK: 2300)"

The icy dragon roared as it flew above the field. Its icy wings chilled the air around it, causing the audience and Lily to appropriately freeze. Even its breath was frozen and visible.

"I'll activate the effect of Sangan, then my Brionac. First, Sangan allows me to add a card from my deck to my hand as long as it has 1500 attack points or less, so I'll add the 'Dandylion' monster card to my hand. Secondly, I'll use the effect of Brionac, allowing me to discard a card from my hand to return a card on the field back to its owner's hand. So say bye to Senju!" played the opponent. First, the deck stuck out a card for Lily's opponent to retrieve, and he did so, confirming the card was 'Dandylion'. Secondly, he sent his newly added card to the graveyard, activating the effect of his dragon. The monster swooped down from the air, picking up the statue that Lily summoned on her first turn. It then dropped it on Lily, however, turning into a card before it could do any damage.

"Now, I'm using Dandylion's effect, giving me two Fluffy tokens, (DEF: 0)" continued the other player. After the dragon returned to its side of the field, two pieces of fluff from the dandelion appeared on the other side of the field, defending their owner.

"Finally, I declare a direct attack against you with my Brionac!" yelled the other player. The dragon flew towards Lily. It hit her with its tail, causing her to kneel down from the reaction her duel disk gave her. She felt a little shock of pain as her life points plummeted from the attack.

Lily: 1700

The audience was in awe at what they were seeing. Some people were growing doubts whether Lily could make a comeback against her opponent. Others were wondering if she was going to get up from an attack that severe to her life points. In the audience, Kokuen began to tense until someone put their hand on his shoulder.

"Dude, relax, it's only a duel," said a voice familiar to him. He turned around and saw the same trademark blue eyes that Lily had. Instead of purple hair, there was wild, spiky black hair. This other person wore camouflage pants, a black thermal shirt and a green vest. He was a bit muscular, although his figure paled in comparison to Kokuen's.

"Hey, Lucas," greeted Kokuen as the other boy took a seat. Lucas was watching the duel from the back of the room and managed to spot Kokuen.

"Hey, Kokuen. It looks like our Lily's in a bit of trouble, eh?" asked Lucas playfully. Kokuen looked at him with nervousness.

"Yeah, that's a bit obvious. I'm just wondering what is she going to do to get out of this pinch. Also, where's Dominick and Marie?"

"Dominick's somewhere in the crowd. As for Marie, I haven't seen her all today," answered Lucas, sighing. Both Kokuen and Lucas looked at the stage and saw that it was Lily's turn. Her opponent had set no face-down spell or trap cards, meaning that Lily had some degrees of freedom.

"I'll begin my turn," declared Lily, drawing her card and examining her hand. _I can summon Relinquished right now, _she thought to herself, looking at the card and its appropriate Ritual Spell card in her hand, _but that will only get me that Brionac. I need something else that'll help… maybe if I do some kind of combo attack, I can win this duel in one turn… I guess I'll see where this turn goes._

"I'll start off with the spell card known as Black Illusion Ritual! With this card, I'm allowed to send monsters that have a combined level total of at least 1 (and at that moment, she discarded a level one monster called Djinn Disserere of Rituals), and special summon Relinquished (ATK: 0) from my hand!" played Lily. Dark wind began to enter the room. The audience began to panic slightly at the sight of the newly formed whirlwind that was twiling in front of Lily. She smiled as the twister stopped and let out a new creature. Its phallic head twisted and turned. The body's bottom was pointed, and the monster appeared to be armored.

"Now, I'll activate Relinquished's special ability, allowing me to take your monster and use its strength for my monsters'," played Lily. The monster's mouth became a vacuum, absorbing and sucking in everything in a linear path that crossed the ice dragon. The dragon attempted to fly away, but the wind began to grow in speed. Finally, the dragon was slowly devoured within the mouth of the creature. It cried out for help until it was totally enveloped, its screams no longer audible.

"And if that wasn't enough, I'll use the Lightning Vortex spell card, allowing me to discard a card from my hand (and at that moment, she discarded another spell card), and destroy your monsters. So your tokens won't protect you any longer," continued Lily. Clouds began to gather, hovering in the highest part of the room. Lightning struck around the room, scaring the audience although both Lucas and Kokuen remained unnerved. Finally, a streak of lightning blinded both duelists, cleanly hitting both tokens that were on the opponent's side of the field. After the light faded, there was nothing on the field but the few ashes that remained of the plants. Lily's opponent began to sweat, taking note that she still had one card in her hand – Manju.

"And to complete my victory, I'll summon the Manju that you returned in our previous turn. I'm sorry, but this game is over," completed Lily. The statue that she had summoned in her previous turn had reappeared on the field. Her opponent stared in her eyes. He saw nothing but the determination to win the game at any cost, even if it meant overextended just as she had did this turn. He gulped down saliva as he was nervous about what to do. He looked in his hand for some solution, only to find himself wasting more time.

"I declare the attack of Manju against you directly!" The statue raised the spear that was wrapped in its hand. Within moments, the spear pierced Lily's opponent, making him kneel down on the ground.

Player: 2200

"Next up is my Relinquished! Win me the game!" yelled Lily. She began walking off of the stage as her monster sprayed her opponent with ice. The other player was thrown back, hitting the edge of the stage as his life point counter rang through the ears of the other players. It made a low "Dong" sound once it reached zero, signifying that he had indeed lost the game. Lily had a small smile on her face, looking for Kokuen in the crowd.

"THAT WAS A good match today, Lily," complemented Lucas, walking on his cousin's right hand side, patting her on the back. She smiled politely, although she began thinking to herself. _I still can't seem to surpass the power of my father's deck. Although I appreciate him giving me those cards, I still want to duel using my own strength, not his inherited prowess_._ I'm worthless unless I can find a way to surpass his deck._

"Is there something wrong, Lily?" asked Kokuen, noticing that Lily's expression changed from happiness to contemplative disdain.

"N-no, I was just thinking to myself," she said quickly, trying to dispel any worries that either Kokuen or Lucas had. They all walked to their calculus class, entering the room together. The three of them sat next to one another. Usually, Lily was always of the middle of her cousin and her "brother". However today, their instructor decided to split their group up due to a test that they were to have. After the class was seated, everyone was handed an exam to their disdain. Lily looked at the test and saw the first question

_A farmer has one thousand yards of fencing and want s to know what are the dimensions needed to create the maximum area… why in the hell does this matter? I mean, Calculus is going to be useless to me anyway. I need to focus on getting stronger. If I ever plan on trying to take on whomever killed my parents, I need to be strong…I need to be strong…_

Lily found herself pounding her fists on the table, attracting the eyes of her classmates. Her instructor asked her to step outside, and she did so, her knuckles reddened from the pounding she gave the table.

"Lily, are you okay?" he asked, his face obviously expressing the sympathy she hated for people to have for her.

"Yeah, I'm just frustrated…" she responded curtly, her mouth off to one side. He sighed and looked at her, expressing both worry and sympathy.

"I think that you need to see a counselor, Lily. You've been angry ever since the accident with your parents. Although I understand that it's hard to lose someone that's been with you for the majority of your life, it's going to affect you in a negative way. I'm not trying to be another annoying teacher, but you seriously need help," said the instructor to Lily, his gaze never parting hers. A single tear fell from her face, then anger filled her insides. She balled up one of her fists and a finger came waving in her teacher's eyes.

"You tell me when you've lost a parent due to a murder and then we can talk. Otherwise, I have nothing to say to you," she said, her voice trembling from the rage she had within her. She withdrew her finger and rushed inside of the classroom. The teacher went outside, stupefied at what he had just heard. Moments later, she had came out of the room, her bag in her left hand and the test in her right.

"Take your test… fail me if you want, but please don't try and stop me. If you want me to go to a counselor, I will, but it won't help a bit," she told her instructor before storming down the hall. The words she had told him still lingered within his mind before he went back inside of the classroom.

_You tell me when you've lost a parent due to a murder…_

KOKUEN RUSHED INSIDE of their estate to check on Lily. He called her name, the echoes of his voice running through the empty house. He ran through each hall, checking the rooms contained within it. He called out to her once more. Again, no response. He kept checking the halls one-by-one, until he came within feet away from some noise. He walked into the main office and saw Lily on the floor, crying. Her knuckles bled, evident from the blood that was on the floor. She saw herself weeping, muttering to herself, "I have to get stronger,"

"Lily, what's the - "

"DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND HOW WEAK I AM?"

Lily's eyes were reddened from crying. She could barely stand on her feet. She just sat there, slouched on the ground wallowing in her self-pity.

"Lily, you're not weak," Kokuen said, not realizing the words were coming out of his mouth before she looked at him.

"If I were using my father's deck, the duel wouldn't have required me to play so desperately. I know it's sad, but he obviously wanted to see me get better. I don't want to gain strength by just relying on my father. I need to get better than him."

"And you're going to get better by sulking around? I understand that the death was a month ago. However, in order for us to get stronger and prepare ourselves for this investigation we're planning to do, we need to be strong."

"So what do you propose? It's not like they were _your_ parents. You can't possibly feel the anger that I feel."

Kokuen just stood there, silent. The color faded from his face and his eyes were blank. Both of them sat in the room, silent, staring at one another. The tears that flowed from Lily's face stopped, and she looked at her "brother". His eyes were blank…no tears…no life… nothingness.

"I'm sorry, Kokuen," she whispered lightly to him. The eyes remained lifeless monoliths lodged within their sockets. She pounded the ground with her fist, releasing trickles of red liquid from her knuckles. Kokuen broke his trance and saw the blood on the ground while Lily tried to suck her hand in order to prevent any more blood from hitting the ground.

"Are you okay?" he asked, as if nothing had happened previously. She nodded her head and then stared at him.

"What if there was something else behind me getting that deck? What if…in some odd way, that deck was his way of making his power mine?" asked Lily, sucking the last of the trickling blood from her hand.

"If it was, I'd suggest using the deck. If he transferred his power – his deck – to you, then it means that it's technically yours. If I were you, Lily, I'd try using the deck soon. There's no telling what might unravel if you use that deck," answered Kokuen. Lily thought about it for a second. She had only used the deck once and discovered its power. She thought about the duel that happened over a month ago. She remembered how effortlessly she defeated Kokuen. She recalled how she didn't want to use the deck because she didn't like how overpowered it was.

"Next time, I duel, I'll try using the deck again," she said, getting up from the floor. The sunset illuminated the room for around ten minutes before setting and ending another day.


End file.
